The bilateral Left Cerebrum.Frontal Lobe.Extra-Nuclear.Gray Matter.Brodmann area 47 corresponds to the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), located on the orbital and inferior frontal surfaces, especially encompassing the orbital part of the inferior frontal gyrus. This association cortex integrates multimodal sensory information with limbic inputs and is implicated in higher-order cognitive and affective functions, including semantic processing, controlled retrieval of memory, decision-making under uncertainty, and regulation of emotional responses. It maintains dense connections with temporal, limbic, and other prefrontal regions, supporting roles in language, social cognition, and reward-related behavior. In Talairach-based atlases, the “extra-nuclear” designation reflects its position outside classical basal nuclear complexes, emphasizing its cortical gray matter localization within the frontal lobe. Related article: Brodmann area 47.
Brodmann area 47 (inferior frontal gyrus/pars orbitalis) has been implicated in multiple genetic and GWAS-based associations, particularly in domains of language, cognition, and psychiatric vulnerability. Twin and heritability studies show high genetic influence on BA47 gray matter volume and cortical thickness, with variants in genes such as FOXP2, CNTNAP2, and KIAA0319 linked to structural and functional differences in inferior frontal regions supporting speech, reading, and phonological processing, including risk for developmental language disorder and dyslexia. Large-scale brain-structure GWAS (e.g., ENIGMA, UK Biobank) have identified common variants in loci including HMGA2, IGF1, MAPT, and microtubule- and synapse-related genes associated with frontal cortical surface area and thickness that encompass orbital and inferior frontal regions overlapping BA47. Functional and imaging genetics studies implicate BA47 in reward and inhibitory control circuits, with dopaminergic and serotonergic variants (e.g., DRD2, COMT, SLC6A4) modulating activation in tasks of impulsivity, risk-taking, and emotional regulation. Psychiatric GWAS and imaging genetics work in major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and substance use disorders consistently report BA47/inferior frontal abnormalities and polygenic risk effects on structure and activation, while autism spectrum disorder and ADHD genetic risk scores also show associations with frontal–striatal circuitry including BA47, supporting a role for this region as a genetically modulated hub for higher-order cognitive, language, and affective functions.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 392
Hemisphere: bilateral
Atlas: Talairach labels 1mm
Full Quality Version: Download MP4
Full Quality Version: Download MP4
Wali Sidiqyar*, Gaurav Rudravaram*, Elyssa M. McMaster, Trent M. Schwartz, Adam M. Saunders, Kurt G. Schilling, Bennett A. Landman "Introducing SPINS: A Shared Public Visualization Library of Neuroanatomical Structures." Medical Imaging with Deep Learning- short paper
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